(Yicai Global) March 5 -- China's popular video site Bilibili, run by Shanghai Hode Information Technology Co., submitted its initial public offering (IPO) application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, to raise up to USD400 million. The move comes days after a similar bid by its rival iQiyi, Baidu Inc's video unit, and is the latest overseas listing initiative by Chinese internet firms.

It plans to list on the NYSE under the symbol BILI. It will use the new funds to improve user experience and meet demand for high quality content while further strengthening the technology on its platform including Cloud, Big Data and artificial intelligence and enhancing its competitiveness, shows the company's IPO prospectus.

Often referred to by its users as "website B," or B zhan in Chinese, Bilibili features user videos and real-time comments to go with them. It has various kinds of content, including animation, music, dance, video game, science and technology, and entertainment. Users' videos account for some 70 percent of the content on the platform. Founded in 2008, it now has over 1 million active video creators or uploaders, says the company.

As of the fourth quarter of last year, the number of its monthly active users had reached nearly 72 million, up 2.5 times over the first quarter of 2016, its prospectus showed. Users spend an average of 76.3 minutes per day. Bilibili ranked first in the list of favorable applications for users under 24 in China, showed a report from QuestMobile last October.

The total turnover of the company reached USD395 million last year, with the non-GAAP annual net loss of USD15.8 million. Bilibili realized a rapid growth in its revenue last year, up 372 percent year-on-year, while it achieved 299 percent annual revenue increase in 2016.

Video games generate the largest share of the site's revenue at present, accounting for 83.4 percent in 2017. Notably, its video game business rarely relies on external network flow since some 90 percent of game players come from its own community, it says. Bilibili's live-streaming and advertising businesses started relatively late, accounting for 7.1 percent and 6.5 percent of the revenue.

In terms of company's shareholding structure, its Chairman and CEO Chen Rui is the largest shareholder, holding 21.5 percent of the stake, and its founder and President Xu Yi owns 13.1 percent. Among the major institutional investors, China Media Capital (CMC) is the largest shareholder of the company, holding 12.8 percent, with Tencent Holdings Ltd. controlling 5.2 percent of the equity.